Surrender of Rented Homes questions

[Itried]

Hi All,

I just had my 341 and it went fine. I was a little late due to a bomb scare in the Federal Building in Downtown Atlanta. But that is another whole story in itself.

I am surrendering 4 houses and I just noticed a motion to stay filing from Countrywide on one of my properties in California. The court date is set for 4/16. I will not attend because I am surrendering the property.

1. When will this property need to be vacated, it is currently rented and the tenants are still in the property?

2. Will Countrywide notify the tenants of a timeframe as to when they will need to vacate the property or will they work with them to stay in the home?

3. Should I notify the tenent of the April 16th court date and will I know the outcome of that court appearance?

4. The other mortgage lenders have not filed, do they all need to file this motion in order for my case to be discharged?

[HHM]

1. How well do you like your tenants?

Technically, they can stay until someone evicts them. (If I were renting and got notified that the home I was renting was in foreclosure, I would stop paying rent that day (or maybe contact the owner and see what their intentions were, if it was to surrender, I would simply stop paying). Some times, the mortgage companies will simply let the people live in the house indefinitely until the property is actually purchased by someone. It is usually better that the home be occupied instead of sitting their vacant.

2. Since foreclosure notices need to be sent to the home being foreclosed, your tenants will find out about the foreclosure and the various time lines.

3. I think as a courtesy, you should notify the tenants that you have filed BK and are surrendering the home in foreclosure.

4. Yes, they need to either file the motion, or they can wait until discharge, to begin foreclosure.

One thing you did not mention is your renters deposit. If you still have it (did you list it on your BK petition). If you still have it, you probably need to get a stipulation from the trustee to refund the deposit to the renters. If you don't have the deposit, then you need to include your renters as creditors in your BK (because the deposit is THEIR money, you are only holding in trust, as security).

[Itried]

Thanks for the response. Yes I do like the tenents and they were all listed as creditors in my BK. They have all stopped paying now, of course. They were notified about the BK but I was sure about the timeline issues associated with me filing. I would like to tell them when there last month will be, but I guess the banks will let them know when there last month is.

[HHM]

Thanks for the response. Yes I do like the tenents and they were all listed as creditors in my BK. They have all stopped paying now, of course. They were notified about the BK but I was sure about the timeline issues associated with me filing. I would like to tell them when there last month will be, but I guess the banks will let them know when there last month is.

They may or may not get notice of the foreclosure sale date, so out of courtesy, as soon as you receive the foreclosure sale date, I would let them know.